


unfamiliar, yet comforting

by cinder_like_ember



Series: The Silver Sails [4]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Allusions to imprisonment, Avery uses ce/cir, Gen, See the series for that ;), mentions of amputation, mentions of unethical servitude, that's explained in the character bio I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:54:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinder_like_ember/pseuds/cinder_like_ember
Summary: Just a short thing written at midnight about Avery's first real night on the Petit Lapin - first impressions all around, though not necessarily in the way you'd think.
Series: The Silver Sails [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046695
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	unfamiliar, yet comforting

Avery wakes up slowly in the medical bay of the Petit Lapin. Cir eyes stay closed as cir brain catches up to cir body, remembering what happened before ce was here. Those strange people… ce struggled to recall the specifics. There were three of them, or were there four? Ce was so starved and feverish that cir usually-perfect memory was hazy. Ce remembered being taken and then just- pain. So much pain, rippling down cir spine as metal was drilled into cir bones, a shocking, excruciating fire as the nerves were connected to cir new limbs – built partly from the metal of the serving-robots to honour them and keep them in cir memory. That was important to cer; ce remembers cir requests clearly. Ce didn’t want to leave cir brethren behind.

Ce comes to a sudden realisation, recollecting how ce got here: ce should be able to move – of course, if the Doctor had failed in the operation, ce probably wouldn’t be awake right now. Moving… what a thought. It had been so long since ce was last given agency to move (ce remembered someone talking about fatal muscle atrophy and limb amputation: this made sense, as cir limbs hadn’t had any use at all for at least 6 years, and even before that there was little), and ce wondered how it would feel to have control over cir own body. Ce would have to work up to it, most likely, but it seemed that, finally, ce had something resembling a victory; over a decade of manipulation and control over others, in order to finally have control over cirself.

As ce slowly joins the world of the living, ce hears a nearly-silent breath – someone else’s – in the room. Cir eyes float open and gaze towards the nearly-stranger – a tall man with brown hair – who does not notice that ce’s awake. Ce keeps cir breathing steady: ce would prefer silent observation for as long as possible to understand what ce was dealing with here. He seemed to be reading… something, sat in the chair with green eyes focussed on the words in front of him, and not on cer. Ce waited silently, patiently, watching this strange man read, until he was interrupted by the door opening.

The person who entered was distinctly inhuman in appearance – shorter than both the man and cer, with grey skin and webbed hands – her throat seemed to be completely made of metal, and she had a sharp look in her ink-black eyes; a look that Avery saw on long-serving soldiers, and ce closed cir eyes again, maintaining the illusion of slumber. The language they spoke was common, and ce tuned into the conversation with no small effort, mind still numb with the aftershocks of pain and the numbness of a long sleep. The woman seemed angry, or at least spoke with a cutting tone, and the man responded only gently, with a suspicious kind-of softness. They left the room together, leaving cer alone at last.

Ce took a moment to take a self-inventory. Ce wasn’t wearing any clothes, but was under a thin sheet. Cir head felt fuzzy from so much time spent unconscious but ce seemed otherwise unhurt. Ce felt a strange and unusual numbness in cir limbs and back, accompanied by a soft ache; a numbness wasn’t unusual, ce’d come to terms long ago with the fact that ce’d never be able to stand let alone walk – but this numbness had a different tone: a tone that spoke of static instead of nothingness. Ce was lying on cir front with cir head turned to the side, leaving cir back exposed. There seemed to be a heavy weight pulling cir torso into the bed, and there was a staticky feeling running from cir shoulders down cir spine. Ce opened cir eyes again, and finally took a look at cirself.

Immediately ce could see a grey-ish shoulder plate, connected to a long arm- no, two arms, both on the same side. Ever curious, ce flexed, and gasped softly as the sheet moved above cer. Ce tentatively took control of an arm and pressed against the bed, and almost fell back again in surprise. Ce pushed cirself up so easily! Taking control of the opposite arm, ce grabbed onto the headboard to bring cirself into a more upright position, though ce was still on cir stomach. Ce stopped for a moment to catch a breath, then took control of the final two arms, marvelling at how it felt to move them. This is how ce was meant to be, ce thinks, as ce gently pulls cirself into a sitting position. Finally, ce lifts off the sheet to see cir legs. The same grey as cir arms, made of interlocking cable and sheet metal from dead serving-robots, ce watched as they flexed under cir control. They were so long! Much longer than cir old ones were! Ce reached down to feel them and stopped as ce saw cir hand – long-fingered, at least 3x the size ce expected it to be – ce loved it, cradling cir face, tangling spindly digits in the holes in cir legs, feeling the design on cir arms. Ce felt a relaxation come to rest across cir shoulders.

Once the immediate wonder had worn off, ce took a deep breath, steadying cirself for what ce knew ce had to do next. Using cir new, graceful hands, ce shifted to the side of the bed, letting cir new feet feel the floor – the metal of cir legs made a satisfying tap against the metal floor, and it sent a shiver running up cir spine. This was right. Reaching out with a long arm, ce holds onto a cabinet and lifts cirself onto the new legs, vision going black and dizzy as the blood tries to rush to cir brain in time. Once cir vision has cleared, ce tries to move and stumbles – ce’s so much taller now, and the balance is so unusual – but a lap of the room later and ce’s walking comfortably enough. Ce bounces a little on the floor, relishing the tap of metal on metal, scraping a sharp hand gently against the wall. This was who ce was.

The creak of the door opening snapped cer out of cir reverie, as the tall man from before stepped back in. He seemed to do a double-take at the sight of Avery, so tall even to him, standing- _standing_ less than a metre away, before he’s fussing cer, imploring cer to lie back down, telling cer that ce shouldn’t be standing, shouldn’t really even be awake yet, and that ce might hurt cirself if ce does. Ce looks at him quizzically, wondering what he wanted to achieve by keeping cer inactive, and before ce knew it ce’d sidestepped him and started to walk down the hall. Ce wouldn’t be Kept again, not anymore. Ce would go where ce wanted at any time, and there was nothing the tall man could do to stop cer.

Ce came to a halt as ce faintly felt a hand against cir wrist, gentle, as he looked up at cer with those warm green eyes and offered for cer to lean on him if ce needed – that if ce really wanted to wander then he could at least stay with cer. Ce paused for a minute, just staring at him; he fidgeted slightly under cir gaze as ce wondered just what his motive would be, to offer his assistance - what he would want in return, and was it a price ce was willing to pay? After deliberation, ce decided that maybe it was worthwhile to have someone there in case ce fell, at least – and kept half an eye on him as he walked beside cer, content to let cer wander where ce wanted.

At some point ce was deposited with soft words into cir room, where ce tucked cirself into a chair and ruminated over cir new life. This felt like a good start to the next chapter, ce thought. The people didn’t seem immediately hostile, and one of them – Léon? – even seemed to want to help cer. If nothing else, ce had control now. Of cir body and cir movement above all. Two decades of chains, manacles and degradation had cer longing for what ce knew was in cer nature, and now, at last, it seemed that ce was free.


End file.
